The Maharashtra Congress on Friday sought the arrest of radical Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide, whose name was linked to the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon clashes, after the latter allegedly made a statement questioning the parentage of Mahatma Gandhi. The Hindutva leader’s remarks provoked the ire of the Congress in the Assembly today.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan demanded Bhide’s arrest for the latter’s “shameless” remarks against the father of the nation at event in Amravati district. There, Bhide had claimed, “It is said that Mahatma Gandhi’s name is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, but Karamchand Gandhi was not Mahatma Gandhi’s father. A Muslim landlord was his real father.... Karamchand, while working for a Muslim landlord, had defrauded the man and had run away. The Muslim landlord in anger had then forcefully brought Karamchand’s wife to his own home,” Bhide had said.
“In Amravati, Sambhaji Bhide made a shameless and derogatory remark against the father of the nation, calculated to spread hatred and divisiveness in society. This person must be arrested immediately. How can he roam free after making derogatory remarks about Mahatma Gandhi?” Mr. Chavan said in the Assembly.
